In various medical procedures, a clinician introduces a guiding catheter into a body lumen of a patient and advances the catheter through the lumen until the distal end of the catheter comes to rest near a desired location. For instance, in typical percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedures, a clinician percutaneously introduces a guiding catheter into a patient's cardiovascular system through the brachial or femoral artery and advances the catheter until the catheter's distal tip rests in the ostium of the desired artery. Similarly, in minimally invasive valvuloplasty, a balloon is inserted through the patient's vasculature until the balloon is positioned to treat (dilate) a heart valve.
When the valvuloplasty procedure goes as planned, it reestablishes acceptable operation of the valve or prepares the valve region for placement of a prosthetic valve. But complications can arise. For instance, the patient can become distressed needing rapid restoration of blood flow to downstream organs. Such situations call for rapid deflation of the balloon. Also, the balloon-catheter device can become stuck in the target lumen. What is needed is a device that can be rapidly deflated or cut to facilitate its removal from a target lumen or valve while retaining its retractability into a catheter sheath after deflation.